


First Impressions

by LadyFroggy



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Established Relationship, Friends With Benefits, M/M, POV Elim Garak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 16:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyFroggy/pseuds/LadyFroggy
Summary: Julian comes home from his surprise trip to Ajilon Prime with a new pet cat in tow. Garak is not overly fond of his new companion.Takes place over the course of season five.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> I just really like cats, alright?

“Come,” Came the tired voice of Dr. Bashir from his quarters. Even though Garak knew that the doctor had returned, it was good to have confirmation of life.

“Don’t let the cat out!” Bashir yelled from the refresher as Garak walked in.

“Excuse me?” Garak responded but immediately saw what Bashir likely meant. There was a strange little furry animal glaring at him from Bashir’s couch.

At least he thought it was glaring, he supposed he didn’t really know how this “cat” expressed itself.

Bashir wandered out of the refresher in a pair of fleece pajamas.

“What is it?” Garak asked, gesturing to the ill tempered looking thing on his friend’s couch.

“A cat,” said Bashir with amusement.

“Yes, you mentioned that, unfortunately I haven’t the foggiest notion of what a ‘cat’ is.”

“She's a cat, well, I am fairly sure she's a she, I guess it doesn’t matter where cats are concerned, I am not a veterinarian after all,” He babbled moving over to the ball of fur.

“So, we have established it has a sex, why is it in your quarters?” Garak proded, Bashir was always a little scattered after particularly difficult missions. Typically Garak founded it endearing but he was genuinely confused about this creature.

“She marched right up to me after the battle and all but insisted I take her home,” Bashir smirked, “We scanned her and couldn’t find any identification, she must have stowed away with a ship that stopped at Ajilon Prime,”   
  
“Insisted? Can she speak?” Garak said, giving the creature a wider berth.

Bashir laughed and gave the ‘cat’ a pat on the head.

“No, but cats are generally very good at expressing their wants and needs. Cats are pets on Earth, probably the only species to have domesticated themselves, actually. Do you have pets on Cardassia? I don’t know if it has come up,”

“Wealthy children, on occasion, have Wompats but generally any kept animals serve a more explicit purpose,” Garak answered, still giving the cat substantial space.

“Oh, cats have a purpose! I mean, besides companionship. They are very good at keeping pest populations under control. They are vicious hunters.  _ Aren’t you? Yes.” _ Bashir said switching to a strange sing-song voice at the end directed at the cat itself.

“I don’t see a creature that size doing particularly well against a vole,” Garak said as he tried moving a bit closer to the creature. He tried to reach out to the creature with one hand. The cat lifted one arm as if in imitation.

“Careful there, that is usually a precursor to being slapped I have discovered, and rodents on earth tend to be smaller but she could probably give a smaller vole a run for its money,”

“Slapped? Why keep this creature if it slaps you?” Humans keeping a vaguely dangerous predator in their homes for companionship and questionable pest control certainly added an interesting dynamic to his understanding of the species.

“They can also be very loving and sweet. They also cause a disease called toxoplasmosis which many humans have and creates an inclination to love them,” said Bashir as the cat, as if on cue, crawled into Bashir’s lap and made itself comfortable.   
  
“Let me make sure I have this correctly,” said Garak as he carefully took a seat next to Bashir, “This creature, an Earth pet, slaps its owner, is a ‘vicious’ hunter, carries a disease that impacts the mind of its owner and humans keep them in their homes because they can be ‘loving and sweet?’”

Bashir laughed at Garak’s description.

“I suppose you could put it that way. They were also important to controlling disease because they kept the mice and rats, which are far greater spreaders of disease, in check. They also are a bit more self sufficient than most Earth pets and don’t require much space which makes them good for starfleet personnel. Try giving her a pet now that she is settled,”

Garak moved to pet her on the head like Bashir had but was quickly rebuffed by a hiss and a scratch from the cat before she jumped down and ran away.

“You alright there?” Asked Bashir, looking at Garak’s injured hand, “let me get the dermal regenerator,”

Garak gave Bashir his hand for repair. Humans were strange people.

“Besides this cruel creature you have brought into your life, how are you, my dear doctor? I don’t believe your excursion to Ajilon Prime and the subsequent skirmish was planned?”

“Of course you know about that,” said Bashir with amusement, “I am tired and could use some comfort, which I am guessing you already suspected. I am glad you are here.”

Garak pulled the lanky man into an embrace and placed a gentle kiss on his head.

…

“What do you think about Marie?” Bashir asked as he took his regular seat at the replimat.

Garak looked at the young man quizzically.

“A name for the cat,” Bashir explained, “After the human physicist, Marie Curie. Or Rosalind after the woman who helped discover human DNA.”

“My dear, I deeply enjoy your company, but I can’t begin to express how little interest I have in that creature you have chosen to share your quarters with,” Garak said as he dug into his lunch.

“I am thinking Rosalind because the human version didn’t get nearly enough credit for her work. Many places on Earth were patriarchal at the time so she tends to get forgotten,” Bashir continued, completely unabashed.

“What an honor for her, then, to be the namesake of your ill tempered, sharp pet,” Garak said sourly, he was not fond of this new roommate of Bashir’s.

Bashir laughed heartily. How could that man be so infuriating and so attractive at the same time?

“You and Rosalind will get along famously soon enough, mark my words,”

“I highly doubt it, my dear,”

…

Garak flopped back on the bed, enjoying his post-coital high.

“If sex is going to be like that afterwards, maybe you should mentally visit occupation era Terok Nor more often,” Bashir said wickedly as he curled up next to Garak.

“I think we can come up with more pleasant ways to keep things exciting in bed, I think,” 

Garak suddenly sensed someone else had joined him on his other side. He turned his head to be met with a curious, furry face.

“Meerow?” Rosalind yowled into his face.

“My dear, will you extract this creature from my personal space?” Garak said, scooting away from the cat.

“Oh, so dramatic. She is just curious about you,” 

“If she wanted to get to know me, she could have been more polite in our earlier meetings,” Garak sniffed. The cat was now sniffing his hair curiously. Bashir had not moved to remove the animal.

“I suppose you two are too much alike to get along,” Bashir said, clearly amused at Garak’s discomfort.

“Excuse me?” Garak said irritatedly.

“You are both standoffish and dangerous at first meeting but are sweet and cuddly under all the posturing,” Julian was enjoying himself.

“Do you plan on continuing to insult me or will you move the creature so I might stay in your quarters?”

Bashir rolled his eyes and shoved Rosalind out of the bed. She sniffed indignantly before hopping up on the bed stand.

…

Garak wasn’t accustomed to feeling regret after pulling off an arguably well executed attack but his actions on Empok Nor shook him to his core.

He found his quarters to be entirely too quiet for his mood. He took his PADD and made his way to the Bashir’s quarters. Assuming the dear doctor would still want anything to do with him after that performance, he was generally good for emotional comfort.

Upon arrival, Garak found Bashir was not at home. A quick check in with the computer confirmed that he was still on duty in the infirmary.   
  
Luckily Garak had quite a bit of practice breaking into Bashir’s quarters.

Garak ordered a red leaf tea from the doctor’s replicator and settled in to wait for the man to get off shift.

Some minutes after settling into a surprisingly engaging human selection, he felt that all too familiar gaze on him.

Garak glared at the little cat looking at him curiously.

“Go away, cat,” he said grumpily.

The cat either didn’t understand or didn’t care because she did not go away. She, in fact, hopped up next to Garak on the couch.

“Fine, but stay over there,”

“Meeerow?”

“You need not get closer,”

“Merow,”

“I am sorry but you made a very bad first impression and I have no interested in furthering our acquaintance, our shared fondness of Julian Bashir notwithstanding,”

For the first time, Garak wondered what had happened to Rosalind when the Changeling took Bashir’s place. She clearly had survived the experience. After whatever had happened to her before wandering into Bashir’s arms, she seemed to be something of a survivor.

While he was thinking, Rosalind started to sneak closer to Garak.

“No, no, cat, you are not as clever as you think you are,” Said Garak trying to shoo Rosalind away.

Rosalind clearly was not intimidated by the former agent of the Obsidian Order because she ignored Garak and curled up in his lap and started vibrating.

“Are you rattling?”

Rosalind was content and didn’t seem interested in scratching or biting him so maybe he would allow it, just this once.

Some hours later, Dr. Bashir returned to his quarters, tired after a stressful shift, to find Garak asleep on his couch with a pleased looking Rosalind purring on his lap.


End file.
